靠不住的规律
I have always maintained， and assertedassert v.断言， 声称 time to time， that woman is no mystery， that man can foretell， construe， subdue， comprehend， and interpret her. That she is a mystery has been foisted by herself upon credulouscredulous adj.轻信的 mankind. Whether I am right or wrong we shall see. As “Harpers Drawer” used to say in bygone years， “The following good story is told of Miss—， Mr.—， Mr.—and Mr.—.”
我一向认为，并且时常断言，女人并不神秘，男人可以对她作出预言、分析、驯服、了解和解读。女人神秘一说，是她们自己强加在轻信的人们头上的。我的话对不对，下文自见分晓。《哈泼斯杂志》以前常说：“下面这个有趣的故事讲的是某小姐、某先生、某先生和某先生。”
We shall have to omitomit vt.省略， 疏忽， 遗漏 “Bishop X” and “the Rev”， for they do not belong.
至于“某主教”和“某牧师”，同我们的故事沾不上边，恐怕只能割爱了。
In those days Paloma was a new town on the line of the Southern Pacific. A reporter would have called it a “mushroom” town， but it was not. Paloma was， first and last， of the toadstool variety.
那年月，帕洛马还是南太平洋铁路线上的一个新兴城镇。新闻记者也许会用“雨后蘑菇”之类的词儿来形容它的蓬勃发展，可是不行，帕洛马自始至终是属于毒菌类的。
The train stopped there at noon for the engine to drink and for the passengers both to drink and to dine. There was a new yellowpine hotel， also a wool warehousewarehouse n.仓库， 货栈， 大商店 vt.贮入仓库，<俚>［经］以他人名义购进(股票)， and perhaps three dozen box residences. The rest was composed of tents， cow ponies， “blackwaxy” mud， and mesquitetrees， all bound round by a horizon. Paloma was an abouttobe city. The houses represented faith， the tents hope， the twiceaday train by which you might leave， creditably sustained the role of charitycharity n.慈善， 施舍， 慈善团体.
中午，列车在这里靠站，给火车头上水，让乘客们也喝水吃饭。镇上有一座新盖的黄松木板旅店，还有一个羊毛仓库，三十来个住家棚屋。其他的只是帐篷，牧牛人骑的矮种马，黑蜡似的泥泞和牧豆树，此外就是一望无际的草原。帕洛马是个略具雏形的城市。房屋代表信心；帐篷代表希望；每天两班的火车值得称颂地充当了慈善的角色，因为你待不下去时可以搭火车离开。
The Parisian Restaurant occupied the muddiest spot in the town while it rained， and the warmest when it shone. It was operated， owned， and perpetratedperpetrate v.犯 by a citizen known as Old Man Hinkle， who had come out of Indiana to make his fortune in this land of condensed milk and sorghumsorghum n.［植］高粱属的植物， <美>高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西.
巴黎饭馆坐落在镇上雨天最泥泞，晴天最炎热的地点。饭馆老板、经理兼大班是个姓欣克尔的老头，他老家在印第安纳州，特意来到这个流炼乳与高粱糖浆之地，想发大财。
There was a fourroom， unpainted， weatherboarded box house in which the family lived. From the kitchen extended a “shelter” made of poles covered with chaparralchaparral n.丛林， 茂密的树丛 brush. Under this was a table and two benches， each twenty feet long， the product of Paloma home carpentry. Here was set forth the roast mutton， the stewed apples， boiled beans， sodabiscuits， puddinorpie， and hot coffee of the Parisian menu.
他们一家住在一幢有四个房间，钉着檐板，未经油漆的木板房里。厨房旁边用木杆挫出一个凉棚，上面用株树枝条覆盖。棚子底下摆开一张桌子和两条各长二十英尺的板凳，那都是帕洛马本地木工的手艺。巴黎饭馆菜单上的烤羊肉、熬苹果、煮豆子、苏打饼干、布丁或馅饼、热咖啡就在这里供应。
Ma Hinkle and a subordinatesubordinate adj.次要的， 从属的， 下级的 n.下属 v.服从 known to the ears as “Betty”， but denied to the eyesight， presided at the range. Pa Hinkle himself， with salamandrous thumbs， served the scalding viands. During rush hours a Mexican youth， who rolled and smoked cigarettes between courses， aided him in waiting on the guests. As is customary at Parisian banquetsbanquet n.宴会， I place the sweets at the end of my wordy menu.
欣克尔大妈同一个只闻其名、不见其人的叫“贝蒂”的下手在厨房里掌勺。长着两根耐高温的大拇指的欣克尔老爷亲自端出滚烫的菜肴。开饭最忙的时候，有个墨西哥小伙子帮他跑堂，招呼顾客；空闲的时候，就卷烟抽烟。巴黎筵席的习惯最后一道是甜食。我把甜美的东西也放在我的文字菜单的最后。
Ileen Hinkle！
艾琳·欣克尔！
The spelling is correct， for I have seen her write it. No doubt she had been named by ear， but she so splendidly bore the orthographyorthography n.正确拼字， 正字法， 正字学 that Tom Moore himself (had he seen her) would have indorsed the phonography.
拼法没有错，因为我见过她是这么写的。毫无疑问，她的名字是单凭字音起的，不过再差劲的缀字法到了她身上也分外出色。假如汤姆·莫尔本人见到了她的话，也会认可这种表音法的。
Ileen was the daughter of the house， and the first Lady Cashier to invadeinvade vt.侵略， 侵袭， 拥挤 the territory south of an eastandwest line drawn through Galveston and Del Rio. She sat on a high stool in a rough pine grandstandor was it a temple？—under the shelter at the door of the kitchen. There was a barbedwire protection in front of her， with a little arch under which you passed your money. Heaven knows why the barbed wire， for every man who dined Parisianly there would have died in her service. Her duties were light， each meal was a dollar. You put it under the arch， and she took it.
艾琳是欣克尔家的女性。如果自东向西画一条通过加尔维斯顿和德尔里奥的线，艾琳就是第一个进入这条线以南地区的女出纳员。她坐在厨房门口凉棚下一个粗糙的松木大柜台——是柜台还是殿堂？——里面的高脚凳上。她面前有一张铁丝网保护着，网上开了一个拱形小窗，你付钱时就从那下面递进去。为什么要铁丝网，只有天知道。在那里吃巴黎式饭菜的人个个都愿意豁出性命为她效劳，绝不会损害她。她的工作很轻松每餐饭一块钱，你把钱搁在窗口下面，她只消收钱就行了。
I set out with the intent to describe Ileen Hinkle to you. Instead， I must refer you to the volume by Edmund Burke entitled：A Philosophical Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. It is an exhaustiveexhaustive adj.无遗漏的， 彻底的， 详尽的， 无遗的 treatise， dealing first with the primitiveprimitive adj.原始的， 远古的， 粗糙的， 简单的 conceptions of beauty—roundness and smoothness， I think they are， according to Burke. It is well said. Rotundity is a patent charm， as for smoothness—the more new wrinkles a woman acquires， the smoother she becomes.
我本来想为你把艾琳·欣克尔描绘一番，但是我必须介绍你看看埃德蒙·伯克的一部书，书名是《我们对崇高与美的概念的起源的哲学探索》。这是一部论述十分详尽的论著，先谈到美的原始概念——我记得伯克说的是圆润和光滑。说得很有道理。圆润具有明显的魅力；至于光滑——女人添的皱纹越多，她就变得越滑。
Ileen was a strictly vegetable compound， guaranteed under the Pure Ambrosia and BalmofGilead Act of the year of the fall of Adam. She was a fruitstand blondestrawberries， peaches， cherries， etc. Her eyes were wide apart， and she possessed the calm that precedesprecede v.领先(于)， 在……之前， 先于 a storm that never comes. But it seems to me that words (at any rate per) are wasted in an effort to describe the beautiful. Like fancy， “It is engenderedengender v.造成 in the eyes.” There are three kinds of beauties—I was foreordainedforeordain vt.预先， 注定， 预定命运 to be homiletichomiletic adj.说教的； I can never stick to a story.
艾琳纯粹是植物性化合物，根据亚当被逐出伊甸园那年颁布的《纯正仙食与基列乳香法案》，保证绝不掺假。她是鲜果摊式的金发女郎——草莓、桃子、樱桃等等，美不胜收。她的眼睛分得很开，她的神态具有一种暴风雨前的宁静，但是暴风雨永远不会来到。我认为用文字（不论稿费标准高低）来描绘美总是白白浪费。因为美同幻想一样，“来自眼中”。美女有三种类型——我命中注定爱指指点点，老是说着说着就离了题。
The first is the frecklefaced， snubnosed girl whom you like. The second is Maud Adams. The third is， or are， the ladies in Bouguereaus paintings. Ileen Hinkle was the fourth. She was the mayoressmayoress n.市长夫人， 女市长 of Spotless Town. There were a thousand golden apples coming to her as Helen of the Troy laundrieslaundry n.洗衣店， 要洗的衣服， 洗熨.